Nicci French | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/nicci-french
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Move over, Morse: female TV detectives are on the case nowhttp://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/oct/05/female-tv-detectives-move-over-morse
From DCI Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect to The Killing’s Sarah Lund and Gillian Anderson in The Fall, female sleuths have transformed crime drama, creating a richer brand of whodunnit<br /><br />• <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/oct/05/female-tv-detectives-keeley-hawes-lesley-sharp-suranne-jones-sarah-lancashire" title="">Inside information: four female TV detectives reveal the tricks of the trade</a><p>British television changed in 1991, when DCI Jane Tennison (steadying herself outside the door, taking a deep breath, fixing&nbsp;a cool expression on to her face) walked into an incident&nbsp;room filled with a sneering, jeering, sniggering, lewd, matey, loyal band of detectives who were almost all male: a rugby team of lads, incredulous that someone in a skirt was to take charge of a murder investigation, humiliated by having a woman boss. The drama of who killed and mutilated the female victims ran alongside the drama of a woman battling in a man’s world: how could Tennison withstand the hostility and outright bullying of her colleagues and bosses, and at the same time manage her private life? She had to be tougher than the men at&nbsp;work and still soft and tender at home, placating her lover, apologising to him, cooking for him, compartmentalising her world, though of course the boundaries kept crumbling and collapsing. In the lonely spaces in between, she stood in corridors, visibly collecting herself for the next fight; she smoked ravenously. She was her own battleground.</p><p>Produced by a woman (Sally Head), written by a woman (<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/series/your-next-box-set+lynda-la-plante" title="">Lynda La Plante</a>) and starring a woman (<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/culture/helen-mirren" title="">Helen Mirren</a>), <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2011/sep/08/your-next-boxset-prime-suspect" title=""><em>Prime Suspect</em></a> turned the&nbsp;familiar&nbsp;detective show inside out, dismantling the world that had become so familiar on TV, where maverick male detectives were the experts and women usually the victims – the abandoned body, the mutilated object on the floor, legs splayed and throat cut and dead eyes staring up at us, the clue that needed solving. It was an exhilarating spectacle of female assertiveness and protest, and of its bitter personal cost.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/oct/05/female-tv-detectives-move-over-morse">Continue reading...</a>Crime dramaTelevisionTelevision & radioDramaThe KillingThe BridgeLine of DutyCultureHelen MirrenLesley SharpVicky McClureNicci FrenchBooksSun, 05 Oct 2014 08:00:12 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/oct/05/female-tv-detectives-move-over-morsePhotograph: ZDF/BBCBrilliance: The Bridge’s Saga Norén, played by Sofia Helin, is among the new wave of genre-redefining female TV detectives.Photograph: ZDF/BBCBrilliance: The Bridge’s Saga Norén, played by Sofia Helin, is among the new wave of genre-redefining female TV detectives.Photograph: Tine Harden/DR presseDemented pluckiness … Sofie Gråbøl as Sarah Lund in The Killing.Photograph: Tine Harden/DR presseDemented pluckiness … Sofie Gråbøl as Sarah Lund in The Killing.Photograph: Steffan Hill/BBC/Artists StudioFetishised: Gillian Anderson’s portrayal of DSI Stella Gibson in The Fall is subject to some lingering camera work.Photograph: Steffan Hill/BBC/Artists StudioFetishised: Gillian Anderson’s portrayal of DSI Stella Gibson in The Fall is subject to some lingering camera work.Photograph: Patrick RedmondHeart-wrenching … Olivia Colman brings poignancy to the role of DS Ellie Miller in Broadchurch.Photograph: Patrick RedmondHeart-wrenching … Olivia Colman brings poignancy to the role of DS Ellie Miller in Broadchurch.Photograph: Tony WardIntimate: Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones as Janet Scott and Rachel Bailey in the acclaimed series Scott &amp; Bailey.Photograph: Tony WardIntimate: Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones as Janet Scott and Rachel Bailey in the acclaimed series Scott &amp; Bailey.Photograph: ITV/Rex FeaturesTough and tender: Helen Mirren as DCI Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect, a show that helped to redefine TV crime drama. Photograph: ITV/Rex FeaturesPhotograph: ITV/Rex FeaturesTough and tender: Helen Mirren as DCI Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect, a show that helped to redefine TV crime drama. Photograph: ITV/Rex FeaturesNicci Gerrard2014-10-05T08:00:12ZThe rise of the marriage thrillerhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/jan/15/rise-marriage-thriller-couples-secrets-gillian-flynn
As a suspense writer, I can see a number of reasons behind the trend for nail-biting tales of couples' untold secrets<p>A glance at the bookshop tables in Heathrow and JFK airports over Christmas was enough to confirm it: there's a new genre taking over bookshelves across the world.</p><p>In the Evening Standard, Rosamund Urwin noted the publishing world's <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/move-over-fifty-shades-theres-a-brand-new-genre-whipping-the-publishing-world-into-a-murderous-frenzy-9034128.html" title="">current enthusiasm for &quot;chick noir&quot;</a>, a new wave of psychological thrillers aimed at a female readership. Unlike chick lit, she wrote, these books have &quot;no happy ending, no wedding dress or pram, just plot twists and tortured souls. These are thrillers thrown into the domestic sphere, tales of intimate betrayal and mistrust.&quot;</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/jan/15/rise-marriage-thriller-couples-secrets-gillian-flynn">Continue reading...</a>ThrillersFictionBooksGillian FlynnNicci FrenchCultureWed, 15 Jan 2014 07:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/jan/15/rise-marriage-thriller-couples-secrets-gillian-flynnMode Images Limited/AlamyStrangers in the bedroom … newlyweds in shadow. Photograph: Mode Images Limited/AlamyMode Images Limited/AlamyStrangers in the bedroom … newlyweds in shadow. Photograph: Mode Images Limited/AlamyLucie Whitehouse2014-01-15T07:30:00ZFrom the Brontë sisters to JK Rowling, a potted history of pen nameshttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/14/jk-rowling-pen-names
Harry Potter author's double identity as crime novelist Robert Galbraith puts her in a long tradition of invented identities<p>In 1850 Charlotte Bront&euml; finally outed the brilliant but obscure brother authors Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, and neatly analysed why centuries of authors have chosen to shelter behind entirely invented names or ambiguous double initials.</p><p>The brothers Bell were her and her extraordinary sisters, Emily and Anne. The shy sisters were, she wrote, &quot;averse to personal publicity&quot;. But as George Eliot, born Mary Anne Evans, and the newly revealed as multi nom-de-plumed JK Rowling would entirely have understood, there was more to it: &quot;we did not like to declare ourselves women because – without at that time suspecting that our mode of writing and thinking was not what is called 'feminine' – we had a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice&quot;.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/14/jk-rowling-pen-names">Continue reading...</a>JK RowlingBooksCrime fictionFictionCultureUK newsGeorge EliotCharlotte BrontëEmily BrontëAnne BrontëMark TwainGeorge OrwellJane AustenPD JamesAS ByattEL JamesFifty Shades of GreyBrooke Magnanti (Belle de Jour)Ruth RendellJohn BanvilleNicci FrenchSun, 14 Jul 2013 13:54:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/14/jk-rowling-pen-namesLefteris Pitarakis/APJK Rowling would have understood Charlotte Brontë’s argument that female authors ‘are liable to be looked on with prejudice.’ Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/APLefteris Pitarakis/APJK Rowling would have understood Charlotte Brontë’s argument that female authors ‘are liable to be looked on with prejudice.’ Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/APMaev Kennedy2013-07-14T13:54:00ZThrillers – review rounduphttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jul/20/thrillers-review-roundup
Cold Hands by John J Niven, The Labyrinth of Osiris by Paul Sussman, Vanished by Tim Weaver and Tuesday's Gone by Nicci French<p><strong>Cold Hands</strong> by John J Niven (Heinemann,&nbsp;&pound;12.99)</p><p>The author of the music-biz satire <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/data/book/fiction/9780434017997/kill-your-friends" title=""><em>Kill Your Friends</em></a> acquires a middle initial for his first thriller. Out in the wilds of Canada, Donnie Miller is married to a wealthy newspaper editor and lives in a vast house where he spends his days working on DVD reviews and screenplays he never finishes. It's a world away from his impoverished Scottish childhood – one defined by deadly violence and secrets he has never told. When the family dog is killed, Donnie has a sixth sense that his past may be about to catch up with him … Niven is a deft writer who pumps unease like gas into the space between what Donnie was and what he has become. The novel covers a lot of ground – sexual politics, &quot;evil&quot; kids, the tension between social and moral transformation. If its manifest desire to be a film is sometimes overwhelming, <em>Cold Hands</em> is still a solid, gripping piece of work.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jul/20/thrillers-review-roundup">Continue reading...</a>Nicci FrenchThrillersFictionBooksCultureFri, 20 Jul 2012 21:54:02 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jul/20/thrillers-review-roundupJohn O'Connell2012-07-20T21:54:02ZRewind TV – Without You; Come Date With Me; The Great British Property Scandal; Black Mirror; After Life: The Strange Science of Decay – reviewhttp://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2011/dec/11/without-you-black-mirror-review
Anna Friel excelled in ITV1's gripping new thriller Without You while Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror raised the darkest of laughs<p><a href="http://www.itv.com/withoutyou/" title=""><strong>Without You</strong></a><strong> </strong>(ITV) | <a href="http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=without%20you" title="">ITV Player</a></p><p><a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/come-date-with-me" title=""><strong>Come Date with Me</strong></a> (C4) | <a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/come-date-with-me/4od#3265867" title="">4OD</a></p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2011/dec/11/without-you-black-mirror-review">Continue reading...</a>TelevisionNicci FrenchRory KinnearDramaEntertainmentReality TVHomes TVFactual TVComedyDocumentaryBBCBBC4Come Dine With MeChannel 4ITV channelITV plcTelevision & radioCultureSun, 11 Dec 2011 00:05:57 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2011/dec/11/without-you-black-mirror-reviewPRAnna Friel in Without You: 'If you’ve started on this you’ll be hooked until just before Christmas.’PRAnna Friel in Without You: 'If you’ve started on this you’ll be hooked until just before Christmas.’Euan Ferguson2011-12-11T00:05:57ZPartners in crime fictionhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/22/crime-fiction-harrogate-writing-festival
Philip Marlowe, George Smiley, Nancy Drew, Count Fosco ... detectives, spies and villains are among our best-loved fictional characters. As the crime-writing world comes together for its annual festival, top authors in the genre choose their favourites. But who is your most wanted?<p><strong>Benjamin Black</strong></p><p>The series of Parker books by <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/data/author/richard-stark" title="">Richard Stark</a> – aka <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/09/obituary-donald-westlake" title="Obituary">Donald Westlake</a> – which began in the 1960s and ended with the author's sudden death on the last day of 2008 are among the finest crime novels of the past 50 years. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/mar/03/featuresreviews.guardianreview4" title="Review of Ask the Parrot">Parker</a> – we do not learn his first name, if indeed he has one – is an elemental force, a Nietzschean &Uuml;bermensch beyond good and evil as well as the long arm of the law. He has no past outside the books, and no life except the one that his woman, Clare, makes for him. He is a sort of marvellous machine, and utterly convincing.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/22/crime-fiction-harrogate-writing-festival">Continue reading...</a>FictionCrime fictionNicci FrenchWilkie CollinsThomas HarrisPD JamesGK ChestertonDavid PeaceJohn le CarréRaymond ChandlerLynda La PlanteTelevision & radioCultureFri, 22 Jul 2011 08:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/22/crime-fiction-harrogate-writing-festivalEverett Collection/Rex FeaturesThriller instinct ... Patrick Stewart and Alec Guinness in the 1979 TV adaptation of John Le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Photo: Everett Collection/Rex FeaturesEverett Collection/Rex FeaturesThriller instinct ... Patrick Stewart and Alec Guinness in the 1979 TV adaptation of John Le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex FeaturesGuardian Staff2011-07-22T08:00:00ZBlue Monday by Nicci French – reviewhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/13/blue-monday-nicci-french-review
After 11 bestselling psychological thrillers, the husband-and-wife writing duo have turned to crime...<p>Dual personalities, shared memories, criminal duplicity and clandestine identity: the trade of the shrink is fertile territory for a husband-and-wife writing duo. Nicci Gerrard and Sean French began their collaboration a decade ago, after an article on recovered memory fired shared interests which they shaped into <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/data/book/crime/9780141034133/the-memory-game" title=""><em>The Memory Game</em></a>, the first Nicci French novel. Eleven best-selling psychological thrillers later, <em>Blue Monday</em> marks a trumpeted transition into crime fiction and brings a new lead character, psychotherapist Frieda Klein.</p><p>It opens in London on a hot summer's day in 1987, with a little girl called Rosie Vine making her way to the sweetshop, trailing her younger sister Joanna behind her. Inside the shop, Rosie has a peculiar sensation of time distorting, a shimmering flicker in the air outside. When she looks back through the door, her sister has vanished, never to be found.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/13/blue-monday-nicci-french-review">Continue reading...</a>Crime fictionNicci FrenchFictionBooksCultureWed, 13 Jul 2011 09:25:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/13/blue-monday-nicci-french-reviewEric Robert/VIP Production/CorbisNicci French ... aka the bestselling duo of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French Photograph: Eric Robert/VIP Production/CorbisEric Robert/VIP Production/CorbisNicci French ... aka the bestselling duo of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French Photograph: Eric Robert/VIP Production/CorbisCathi Unsworth2011-07-13T09:25:00ZReview: Until It's Over by Nicci Frenchhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/apr/27/crimebooks.fiction
Nicci French's Until It's Over mixes bicycles and murder, says Ian Bettlestone<p><strong>Until It's Over </strong></p><p>by Nicci French </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/apr/27/crimebooks.fiction">Continue reading...</a>Crime fictionBooksFictionCultureNicci FrenchSat, 26 Apr 2008 23:04:42 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/apr/27/crimebooks.fictionIan Beetlestone2008-04-26T23:04:42ZReview: Losing You by Nicci Frenchhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/jan/28/fiction.features
Nicci French's Losing You covers several troubled hours in East Anglia<p><strong>Losing You </strong></p><p>by Nicci French </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/jan/28/fiction.features">Continue reading...</a>BooksFictionCultureNicci FrenchSun, 28 Jan 2007 00:06:26 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/jan/28/fiction.featuresCaroline Boucher2007-01-28T00:06:26ZAuthor ambassadors named for reading group prizehttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/may/18/news.richardlea
<p>Ali Smith, Marina Lewycka, Helen Dunmore and Nicci French have been named as author ambassadors for the 2006 Penguin/ Orange Reading Group prize. They will be visiting reading groups chosen at random from entries to the contest to find the group with the most imaginative and diverse reading list.</p><p>&quot;Reading groups have grown enormously in popularity over the past few years and are absolutely where it's at in terms of reading and books at the moment,&quot; said Marina Lewycka, whose debut novel A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian was shortlisted for the Orange prize last year. &quot;As an author it's great to be at the epicentre of this and to be able to visit groups.&quot;</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/may/18/news.richardlea">Continue reading...</a>BooksCultureHelen DunmorePenguinNicci FrenchThu, 18 May 2006 15:42:37 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/may/18/news.richardleaRichard Lea2006-05-18T15:42:37ZAudio: Aug 22http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/aug/22/features.review2
<p><strong>Secret Smile </strong> <br /> <strong> by Nicci French</strong> <br /> Read by Anne Flosnik; 10hrs unabridged; Isis Audio Books &pound;18.99 plus p&amp;p (cassettes); &pound;25.99 (CDs) </p><p> You have to suspend disbelief at the beginning of Nicci French's latest psychological thriller: Miranda has an eight-day relationship with Brendan, but promptly dumps him when she finds him reading her diary. Two weeks later, her sister, Kerry, introduces her new boyfriend: it's Brendan, whom her parents have already happily accepted as 'family'. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/aug/22/features.review2">Continue reading...</a>BooksCultureNicci FrenchSun, 22 Aug 2004 00:38:13 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/aug/22/features.review2Rachel Redford2004-08-22T00:38:13ZObserver review: Secret Smile by Nicci Frenchhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/mar/28/crimebooks.features
Sean French and Nicci Gerrard return for their seventh Nicci French thriller, Secret Smile. Rachel Cooke welcomes the new arrival<p><strong>Secret Smile</strong><br />by Nicci French<br />Michael Joseph &pound;16.99, pp310</p><p>Like all city-dwelling women, I put an awful lot of energy into making sure I feel safe. As a consequence, my head is always full of questions. Where is my bag? Where is my mobile phone? Why is that man walking so close to me? This does not mean that I have an aversion to scary books. So long as the front door is locked and bolted, there is nothing I like more than a hardback with embossed gold letters and a noose on its cover. A little hot fear followed by the cooling balm of inevitable resolution. This, I think, is the best literary comfort blanket of all.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/mar/28/crimebooks.features">Continue reading...</a>Crime fictionBooksCultureThrillersNicci FrenchSun, 28 Mar 2004 00:37:27 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/mar/28/crimebooks.featuresRachel Cooke2004-03-28T00:37:27ZAudio: Mar 2http://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/mar/02/features.review
Rachel Redford on Land of the Living by Nicci French<p><strong>Land of the Living</strong><br />Nicci French<br />Read by Saskia Reeves<br />Running time 3hrs<br />Penguin &pound;8.99 cassette; &pound;12.99 CD</p><p>Abbie Devereaux is hooded and bound to a chair, the victim of her unseen captor who feeds her and pulls down her trousers at necessary intervals to help her on to a bucket. He also promises to kill her and chants the haunting litany of names of the girls he has kidnapped and killed. Abbie draws on her prodigious strength of spirit and eventually escapes back to the land of the living.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/mar/02/features.review">Continue reading...</a>BooksCultureNicci FrenchSun, 02 Mar 2003 04:19:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/mar/02/features.reviewRachel Redford2003-03-02T04:19:04ZReview: Land of the Living by Nicci Frenchhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/feb/15/featuresreviews.guardianreview30
Helen Falconer is left breathless by Land of the Living, a thoughtful and fast-moving thriller by Nicci French<p><strong> Land of the Living</strong><br /> by Nicci French <br /> 320pp, Michael Joseph, &pound;16.99 </p><p> A woman wakes in the pitch black. All she can hear is her own breathing. She cannot move. She cannot see. She cannot remember anything of the past few days. Starting with the bare Cartesian fact of her existence, she begins to construct a possible universe. Has there been an accident: train, car? Is she upside down at the bottom of a ditch? But her arms and legs are tied down, her head is covered - what is this? Is she a casualty in hospital, restrained on a trolley for her own safety, her head bandaged because of serious facial injuries? She groans. Someone stuffs a rag into her mouth - &quot;make another sound and I'll block your nose as well&quot;. Oh-oh - this could be messier than she thought. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/feb/15/featuresreviews.guardianreview30">Continue reading...</a>BooksFictionCultureThrillersNicci FrenchSat, 15 Feb 2003 23:38:07 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/feb/15/featuresreviews.guardianreview30Helen Falconer2003-02-15T23:38:07ZThe Red Room by Nicci French read by Jane Markhamhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/nov/04/features.review1
<p><strong> The Red Room</strong><br />Nicci French<br />Read by Jane Markham<br />Unabridged 12hrs 30mins<br />Isis Audio Books &pound;19.88 plus p&amp;p mail order 0800 7315637 </p><p>When Leanne, a homeless young girl, is found murdered beside the canal, Dr Kit Quinn is called in. To the police, the case is simple: the murderer is Doll, the scruffy oddball who spends most of his time fishing by the canal. Kit, however, is not satisfied - and then the body of Philippa Burton is found, also by the canal. Why had this devoted mother told her little daughter, Emily, she'd be back in a minute, left her in the playground and walked off towards the canal? Kit, who is struggling to overcome her own damaged psyche, is determined to find the truth.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/nov/04/features.review1">Continue reading...</a>BooksCultureNicci FrenchSun, 04 Nov 2001 03:12:45 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/nov/04/features.review1Rachel Redford2001-11-04T03:12:45ZObserver review: The Red Room by Nicci Frenchhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/jul/15/crimebooks.features
The fourth Kit Quinn mystery, The Red Room, finds Nicci French on top form<p><strong>The Red Room</strong><br />Nicci French<br />Michael Joseph &pound;9.99, pp340</p><p>Nicci French, the husband-and-wife writing team of Observer journalist Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, have established a well-earned reputation with their novels The Memory Game, Safe House and, especially, Killing Me Softly for turning penetrating character studies into gripping, chilling but also moving psychological thrillers. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/jul/15/crimebooks.features">Continue reading...</a>Crime fictionBooksCultureNicci FrenchSun, 15 Jul 2001 22:54:40 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/jul/15/crimebooks.featuresPeter Guttridge2001-07-15T22:54:40ZBeneath the Skin by Nicci French read by Si&acirc;n Thomashttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/feb/18/features.review
<p><strong> Beneath the Skin</strong><br />Nicci French<br />Read by Si&acirc;n Thomas with Chris Pavlo<br />Running time 3hrs<br />Penguin &pound;8.99 </p><p>The husband-and-wife team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French have again produced a crime thriller designed to get under the listeners' skin. Set in the oppressive summer streets of London, three women become connected by a psychopath who sends them love letters. He promises to kill them, slowly, painfully and with affection. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/feb/18/features.review">Continue reading...</a>BooksCultureThrillersNicci FrenchSun, 18 Feb 2001 03:52:53 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/feb/18/features.reviewKim Bunce2001-02-18T03:52:53ZMurder most torridhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jun/25/crimebooks
The latest from the husband and wife team Nicci French, Beneath the Skin, is a study in claustrophobia<p><strong> Beneath the Skin</strong><br />Nicci French<br />Michael Joseph &pound;9.99, pp360<br /><a href="http://www.booksunlimited.co.uk/bol/0,6206,502420638,00.html">Buy it at BOL</a></p><p>The term 'psychological thriller' has lost much of its meaning in recent years as the serial killer sub-genre with which it is most associated has virtually taken over mystery fiction. Given that any halfway decent writer is going to explore motivation and the psychology of her/his characters, almost any mystery novel can be described in this way. But Beneath The Skin, the fourth collaboration of the husband and wife writing team Nicci Gerrard (of The Observer) and Sean French is very precisely a psychological thriller in that it focuses on the psychological effects on three women - Zoe, Jenny, Nadia - of death threats they receive from someone who is watching their every move. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jun/25/crimebooks">Continue reading...</a>Crime fictionBooksCultureNicci FrenchSat, 24 Jun 2000 23:16:31 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jun/25/crimebooksPeter Guttridge2000-06-24T23:16:31Z